Frozen Memories 1-8 Bridge

Hidden Past – Back Cover

Power Corrupts...

Absolute Power Corrupts...

Absolutely

The water lapped at the edge of the sand, a gentle continous sound of water on sandy beach. The sun hung low in the western sky and steadily fell away as a rock was the place of rest for a cloaked hooded figure that sat upon it.

A portal of purple and black swirled into reality. And a figure dressed similar to the cloaked stranger sitting upon the rock stepped into view. The figure stepped closer and the one seated began to speak. "You have arrived"

"I've been to see them" The hooded stranger said, their voice deep and thoughtful, clearly female, never standing or moving from their place upon the rock which they sat. "They look a lot like you"

The hooded newcomer at first said nothing, then wordlessly asked a question. To which the seated one replied. "Now is our chance. We must make amends for all of the wrongs." Another silent unasked question. "I have a plan. Fetch them all. It is time in their dreams."

Finally the cloaked newcomer asked a third question "Who I am does not matter. I am one who remains, one who once was. The one who...is ? It does not matter now. What matters is the time we have." A fourth unasked question. "Yes. I will need your help in this venture."

The sun set, and a portal opened, it was time for them to begin.

Elsa – Eight Days

The First Day

23 May 1969

Hindaravag Bandit hideout

Dawn

The thunder roiled across the sky as lightning seared the heavens brightly with light and power. But it did not bother Taryl, the Bandit Chief, known as the Bandit King; Taryl cared less for the rain and honestly cared very little for snow and ice. Which happened at times quite frequently recently in previous six or so years. No it did not vex him th slightest. What did was the two people before him. So easily had they walked into his campment. His kingdom. Not many did just that so freely.

"You two lovebirds lost ?" The Bandit King asked in a no nonsense tone.

"As a matter of fact; no, we're not lost. We found who we sought. Haven't we ?" Kethend then said, turning her silver eyes to the 'man' next to her.

The 'man' blinked, his eyes flashing red for a second. "Yes...we've found him." He said softly, his voice deep, threatening, and echoed by a million screams. "Bandit King Taryl, we require your assistance." he said.

Of course, none but Kethend knew that this 'man' was the legendary Draco, King of the Shadows, but all would soon learn to fear his name again...soon.

"That we do" Kethend said, removing from her shoulder a silver sack.

Taryl looked somewhat alarmed, but it passed as quickly as it came. "You seek help from the Bandit King ? I have a price you know"

"And we have the means of what are to do within this sack." Kethend removed two bottles, no larger than a common baby feeding bottle. "Selective memory potions. Brewed with the intent of forgetting everything but name, but for this one, Everything but name, and her magic, will be forgotten"

Taryl looked between them, a red bottle and a silver bottle he had been shown and told what to do with. "You want me to go after a magical creature ? Are you crazy ?"

"No, We want you to help us teach the Queen of Arendelle, Idun, a lesson she will never forget. Your payment, should the job be completed and the children delivered to their destination; is your wieght twice, in gems of your choice." That got his attention. "Are we agreed ?"

"You want to kidnap the Crown Princess, and her sister, What's in it for me ?"

"Arendelle Castle; and everything inside, if the job is done right, Idun and her husband will have been gone searching for their children, by that time, the castle will be empty of guardsmen." Kethend said. she had thought it all out carefully, planned it even, insofar as creating the potions. The intent to erase the girls memories, leaving only their names and that they were sisters. And that one of them had ice magic.

Taryl liked that idea. "Very well, agreed. When do we begin this... venture ?" He asked.

"Immediately." Draco answered his question; his tone serious, and dark, as usual. "Pack up and leave immediately; time is of the utmost importance." he spoke, blinking slowly, his dark glowing red eyes making some lesser bandits begin to tremble "If you fail, there will be nothing for you in life; only in death." He spoke without regard for their lives. "If you fail, or hesitate in the slightest, I will personally see an end to everything." He spoke with an air of authority that overwhelmed the Bandit King, and most likely angered him.

"My Queen..." he said dismissively, abruptly turning and beginning to walk, his black overcoat flaring out as he turned in the wind, revealing nothing but a black mass underneath it taking the shape of legs.

Taryl smiled, though the mans words did sting his pride he smiled, the sooner the better ey ? Perfect! From what he understood, the King and Queen of Arednelle were planning to go, with their girls, to Carona to see family. And a storm was brewing on the sea during their return! Which made things easier, all he had to do was have his men stationed aboard their ship; as part of the crew on the return trip. It was perfect! But at the words of 'my queen' he looked closed at the silver dressed bright haired woman in his audience as the rain began to fall lightly. This woman was a queen ? He thought carefully, this would work nicely.

With the king and queen of Arendelle so focused on finding their missing children, the castles stores ripe for the taking. He stood from his throne and began giving orders to his men. His ship was to be readied for sailing. and soon, soon he'd have what he wanted. He'd be a true Bandit King!

Kethend smiled, her silver eyes never blinking as she turned in time with Draco, her King, and matched step with him as they left the bandit King and his troupe. "If they do not fill the bill, or are waylaid upon the task before them, you have my glad permission to eliminate this campment but we must wait until word of the children being removed from their parents reaches us to move further." She said in Draconian to her beloved friend.

Draco looked at Kethend, an arrogant smirk on his face. "Permission or not, I was going to destroy this encampment anyway." he replied simply. "But, having permission makes it all the more enjoyable, I suppose." he shrugged softly as he continued to walk. As they walked, trees died, and turned black with Shadow, but only the oldest and strongest trees; Draco wanted to weaken the land before he decided to destroy.

Kethend smiled. "I do not want Idun to be aware of our actions until it is too late. Has Podisiano been informed ? You know how that water drake loves making storms, this troupe, as sorry as it is, will need the proper cover to remain unseen in the stormy darkness upon the sea" By that point they had reached their carraige and made to depart

Draco seemed to hiss lightly at the mention of the Water Drake. "Indeed he has, though the idiot may over do it, I fear. He seemed much to energetic when I spoke with him about this plan of yours." he sighed, yawning as he entered the carriage with a glance to the Driver As soon as the carriage was moving, Draco leaned back in his seat. "I do enjoy these human forms, Kethend. They are very conveinient." he spoke softly now; perhaps he was relaxed ? It wouldnt be the first time Kethend had seen him this relaxed, and certainly it wouldn't be the last. It's just that he usually didn't relax until he was fast asleep, where his body could rest instead of moving around and plotting various "kill everything and laugh" schemes.

Kethend smiled and formed a steeple wit her fingers as the shadowy driver got the carriage into motion soundlessly, "Good, I do hope the impression that nothing was to be destroyed be it ships or lives was properly applied, I'd hate to see this plan fall apart because of his eagerness" She had been planning on usurping Idun, and her husband Adairon, for nearly nine years, plotting carefully every single step. And now, was the perfect time to strike, before they could name their Crown Princess, their eldest daughter, Xeir, as the heir later that year. But sadly things were moved up a notch as Idun bucked tradition and announced instead on the Crown Princess' birthday, the Winter Solstice, that she was the Heir to the kingdom. Which then accelerated the Silver Dragons plans greatly.

The plan called for the girls to be disposed of, or taken captive, their memories lost completely thanks to the selective memory potions she had created. Both girls would forget their parents, their background, their royal linage; and remember only their names, and the fact that the elder of the two, Elsa, had ice magic. the plan also called for the annual trip to Carona to the southeast across the sea. Hence why Podisiano had been... conscripted... oh it was such a mean word, asked, Podisiano was asked, Kethend figured, it sounded so much better. the Water Drake was asked, to create a storm; a storm that would provide cover for the Bandit King, Taryl, and his men to transfer the two girls to their ship from their parents own ship. hopefully that sleeping potion could be applied a the same time of the memory potions.

Finally aftere long moments Kethend snickered "The Bandit King... what a perfect foil! He wont get his prize, have one of the shadows under us to act as part of his own crew, I've got to improvise the plan a bit, Idun is more resourceful thanks to her dratted Court Wizards, those healers wont stop. Iwant the Bandit King waylaid, away from Arendelle, and away from Carona." She produced a map and lit with a shard of silver glass, the inside of the carraige as the rain hammered the carrage. "Let me see here... ah yes... Scala ad Caelum ?... or perhaps Radiant Garden... where to waylay him with the least of troubles arising..."

Draco merely laughed darkly as he stretched out his arms and sat up straight, his eyes flashing red a few times as he sent out a few shadows to act as part of the crew of the Bandit King. "Scala ad Caelum would be most ideal." Draco spoke up calmly. "They're neutral, and have a zero tolerance policy for bandits of any kind. As soon as the poor bastard makes port, he'll be beaten to a pulp. If we're lucky, he'll even be killed" Draco laughed again, his fist into his open palm to emphasize his point. "Of course...that may pose a problem later; the children being in Scala ad Caelum. They are highly skilled there." Draco mused to himself carefully.

"But with their memory loss, and no word to Scala ad Caelum given of the childrens disappearance..." Kethend laughed darkly, a soft hissing laugh; "Yes, Scala ad Caelum has no toloernce for bandits of any kind, even those that seek to buy weapons from them. hence why they become bandits. Yes, it is perfect! The children will only know their names; and that the elder of the two has powerful light magic; anyone that adopts them will have them as their kids, cut off from the royal tree so to speak"

She made the map disappear from the carraige in a spark of light "Idun wont know what hit her family! By the end of next week, she will be broken hearted and searching! And the Bandit King..." She snickered darkly again "Will be to blame, he will fall at Scala ad Caelum, his ship dismantled, and if the children are rescued there; the ship will be scattered at sea. Destroyed in the storm" It was clear that Kethend had thought this through so carefully, so expertly. every single moment had been carefully planned and replanned, and then planned third and fourth time before being entirely replanned anew. She was as giddy as a schoolgirl would have been.

Three Weeks Later

13 June 1969

Aveon Sea

Midday

The day was a mostly cloudy one, and mist was beginning to thicken on the sea. It was a good week back to Carona, and a two week journey left to get to Arendelle. Belyrr checked her watch and looked to the sky. Any moment and the rain was to start falling, timing then was of the essence. "You have it ?" This had to be done to the detail. they were given the potions to use on the royals, chosen by the royals themselves, the two 'ladies' were stationed on the ship to care for the princesses. Which played dirctly into the plans of the plan maker and their Master "We cannot screw this up!" Thy might be the highest ranking shadows o their lord, but even then failor meant instant dissolution. And Belyrr wanted promotion, which normally meant freedom and more fun jobs like this.

They were given the potions, three of them one of them a dull grey color; the sleeping potion, the other two, one red, one silver, were for the girls themselves. the sleeping potion was to be given to the family at the right time to 'help them sleep at night during rough waters' At the same time the girls were to be given the memory potions.

Nymeth nodded, smiling. "Of course, Belyrr." she spoke calmly, and without worry. "Our Lord didn't entrust us with this mission if he didn't believe we could do it." she smiled softly. At Belyrr's urgency, she held up a hand to try and put her at ease. "Now, now, relax. We didn't get our rank by screwing up, now did we?" She raised her eyebrows with the question. She sighed softly as she glanced at the potions. "Now then...it's almost time to put this plan into action...shall we ?" She asked, a devillish smirk on her face.

"You have a point Nymeth, you have a point" Belyrr said in reply, an equally devilish smile on her slender face; as Nymeth spoke of the timing, rain began to make its arrival known as droplets of water slapped the top deck they stood upon, in some cases going through them directly. but not touching the two at all. "The rain has started, the seas are not yet rough, come, let us begin!" She lead the way to the main deck one level down. They had been thruogh the Silversparrow carefully, every single shadow they had scouted on the vessel, they knew it by heart.

Belyrr stopped rather suddenly as she spotted the King of Arendelle, Adairon, speaking with the ships captain. Ok, this might not work as intended just yet. The seas had to be rough in order to give the sleeping drought as required, too soon and the plan was blown, too late and the plan was stalled out; the fog helped, somewhat. "Can you send the signal to Masor and Taston ? Or should we wait a bit more for rougher seas ?" Already the ship was starting to rock as they hit rougher waters, but not as rough as they were after.

They needed storm tossed seas, enough to destroy a ship, but the Silversparrow was the greatest ship of the Arendelle navy. 90 meters from pro to stern in length, and 20 meters port to starboard in width; the ship wouldn't go down without a fight. And even then it was heavily armored and even more armed. The rougher the seas the better. Belyrr kept her icy deep red eyes on the King and the captain of the ship as she spoke to her cohort

Nymeth held her hands behind her back to make it look like she was working and not slacking off to the King and Captain. "We need rougher seas. The Plan calls for the... other ship... to be heavily damaged so they have to dock as soon as they can." she said calmly, smiling. She then sighed, leaning forward, putting her hands on the rail of the ship. "Honestly, I do hope we do well...I would love to enjoy scenery like this more often; if only our Master didn't want to destroy it all..." She sighed. Nymeth was a bit of a strange creature; she served a destruction obsessed Master, but she loved only natural beauty; though, she tolerated the destruction of civilization. She viewed it as Nature taking herself back from the grip of the greedy humans. "Yes...more waiting..." she finished softly.

Belyrr raised a 'delicate' eyebrow to her kindred, "If the Master heard you say that..." She murmured sofly, reaching out to steady herself as the ship dipped into a swell and up another wave. Yes, rougher seas they needed. Just rough enough in fact. Kethend had instructed them carefully to set off some explosions in the Silversparrow, to make it look like the Bandit King had tried to attack before fleeing. when in truth he had the girls in his brig; otherwise in the care of Tazton and Masor. Belyrr smiled then, thinking of exactly how the plan was going to play out, the entire transfer was going to go spotless. The crew would be working too hard to keepo the ship from going under, and the royal family, dead to the world through it all. both girls transfered and the two of them ,their guardians, 'asleep' in their bunks through it as well. when in truth, they had moved them to the other vessel.

Nymeth waved dismissively. "Well, he didn't." she said softer than Belyrr. As the rain began to fall harder, she smiled, and went below deck with her fellow Shadow. As they weaved through the corridors of the ship, she took notice of everything immediately after Belyrr did; double checking always helped, and it was why the pair of them were always so successful and high ranked.

The rain started to fall harder, causing Adairon to raise a hand to cover his eyes as he was all but shouting to be heard over the rainfall. It was not yet a maeltsrom type storm as the two Shadows wanted, but this would do fine. Belyrr lead the way down below, the captains quarters were off the rear of the main deck, behind the helm directly; the royals cabin was directly under it. Belyrr inspected the cannons on the side of the ship where their comrades were to pull along side. Three of the ninety cannons were loaded, as planned. She instructed lesser shadows to keep watch for her signal.

She then went to the door that lead to the royals cabin. The Queen was inside, trying to comfort a rather seasick blonde girl who had already thrown up twice, and both times missed the bucket completely. Belyrr had to fight within herself of using her shadows to clean the floor of the technicolor yawn and its reeking scent, and instead called over one of the servants with some washing cloths and a mop to clean the floor instead. Casting a glance to Nymeth, Diamond was somewhere in the room, maybe already asleep; she barely gave off a nod, it was time to mix the drinks, but not yet time to serve them, not until Adairon came into the royals quarters were they to serve the drinks as required.

She caught her partner's nod and smiled, nodding back, and slipping out of view to start mixing the drinks, which would take a good minute or two to do effectively, and then with a time-frame of about ten minutes before they start to lose effectiveness, they had to be ingested fast after being made. The potions meant for the girls did not require all that much mixing, and would be effective immediately after mixture. Which is why Nymeth focused on the sleeping potions for now. She recalled Kethend's words:

"Silver for the elder of the two; Red for the younger; fail and you will be stripped of your ranks and privileges." Kethend had told them, leaving the threat hanging in the air. Nymeth swallowed as she started to mix it all carefully, not wanting to make a mistake at all.

Three minutes later and Adairon arrived, almost drenched he went to the wardrobe room and changed, stopping briefly to see Nymth mixing the sleeping droughts for them as required. Belyrr found Diamond a minute later, half awake, and kind of ill against the beamwork of the ships portside hull. After helping the girl to her mother, and the floor being cleaned up from yet a third technicolor yawn from Xeir, the ship gave a sudden lurch to the right. Which made a weird sound to Beylrrs ears.

The tearing of fabric, She heard a voice cry out as well, that of the elder child, the Crown Princess, crying out for her mother as cloth tore. Beylrr saw in the suddenly dimm light that Xeir had torn the queens dress, and clutched the part she had torn off in a whitenknuckle grip. Belyrr figured to pay it no heed as the cloth in the girls hand seemed to calm her a bit as Adairon came from the wardrobe room area and called them to bed, and also called for the sleeping droughts.

Belyrr smiled in the shadowy light, Now was the time for the sleeping droughts to be given, and with them the memory potions; the timing was now critical. Moving to the portside where one of the cannons were loaded for the firing of the powdershell within, She spotted not far off their target; It was almost time, the Bandit King was almost there. Timing was now critical indeed.

Without a second thought Belyrr reached down and Xeir took hold of her hand, guiding the girl to her mother, Belyrr smiled inwardly. This family, so happy, about to be destroyed, everything was according to plan! Idun took Xeir to bed, the sleeping droughts were effective almost instantly, knocking out the target perfectly, and long enough to not be a hassle. Heck, once the Royals woke, the Bandit King would be long gone. A good day away in fact.

Knocking twice on the frame of the kitchen door, Belyrr went to where a cannon was located. After making sure the cannon was loosed from its anchors she smiled. This was going to be perfect!

As the plan began, Nymeth suddenly came from the shadows, slipping the sleeping potion into the tea of both the Queen and King just before they both sipped; a toast to try and get through the storm. After they took a drink, they slumped down onto the table they sat at, and once the girls were asleep. Nymeth looked to Belyrr. "Its time to move them, now!" she hissed, the shadows in the room quivering slightly.

Belyrr had instructed the shadows to move the Royals to their bed, and as she picked up Xeir, who never let go of the cloth she had torn, Belyrr kicked at the now loosed cannon, it went rolling into the shadows on the starboard side of the vessel, its speed multiplied by the shadows, throwing it hard into the hull, smashing through it, and destroying Xeir's bed in the proccess. Making it seem as if both girls were lost overboard come morning. She then ducked into the shadows as Nymeth did seconds before.

Nymeth picked up Diamond as she slept and walked through the shadow, appearing in the brig of the Bandit King's ship just as he was pulling aside the Silver Sparrow. Masor was standing at the door of the cell, and smirked.

"About time, ladies. I was beginning to worry if you'd make it." He said.

"Silence, Masor." Nymeth hissed as she set Anna down on a bed in the cell they were going to be held in. She turned to Belyrr as she entered with Xeir. "It's time." She said, nodding.

She smiled. And without so much as a nod, cannonfire rang out. Three touts of fire exploded from the portside of the Silversparrow, only one cannon ball however was fired. landing well out of range of the Bandit Kings vessel. Turning to Masor and Taztan "The girls are under your care. They've been given the memory potions, they know only their names and that the blonde one has light magic. Be careful, I tried to take the cloth from the blonde one, but her grip on it, even in sleep, is stronger than our shadowmagic. Treat them well; we'll see you at our Masters Halls to give the report all at once. Good luck."

With that she turned to Nymeth, it was time to go back to the Silversparrow and act as if they were asleep during the storm and brief firefight. Taztan and Masor could take care of the rest of the Bandit Kings vessel as needed. "Shall we take our leave now ?" She asked as she opened a shadowy portal of black and purple swirling energy to return to the Arendelle vessel

Nymeth saw the Arrogance on Masor's face, and frowned. "Do try to remember our Queen's words, Masor, or do you want to be working in the pits again?" she smirked, knowing that she'd trumped him; one of the most arrogant of the Shadow Lord's underlings. She turned to Belyrr, smiling softly. "Yes, we shall. You first this time." She winked. Truely Nymeth didn't fit in among the darker Shadow beings; she loved nature's beauty, was playful, and even went as far as flirting with the shadow King himself; only to be hounded by the Shadow Queen herself. Strange indeed, but that wasn't what was important now. What was important, however, was the mission. And with her mind focused on the objective, she followed Belyrr through the shadow again.

Belyrr smirked, the portal swirled at the cel door, she stepped through it after giving Masor a death glare, screw up the plan and they'd all get sent to the pits. Someplace that Belyrr hated with a passion. Doing all she could to get out of it in the first place to get out and do missions for their Master.

Upon returning to Silversparrow, Belyrr took careful note of where everything was, perfect, the hole in the starboard side had smashed apart the Crown Princesses bed, the cannon and most of the bed with it, had been lost to the sea. Perfect! With a happy yet quiet clap of her shadowy hands, she was close to doing a happy dance but kept herself from doing so, motioning quickly she went to her place of 'resting' and curled up to 'attempt to sleep' like a human. they had to act as if they heard nothing whatsoever.

Nymeth, without a word, went to her bunk, and laid down as well, turning to face the wall and closing one eye so that she looked completely asleep, and unaware of anything going on.

On the Houdini

Vessel of the Bandit King Taryl

As soon as the two were gone, Taztan turned to Masor, a confused look on his otherwise thin gaunt face, "The fuck was that about with Nymeth ?" He apparently had no idea of how the two rarely got along. which might explain why he was posted with him on that good for nothing soon to be a shipwreck. He hated the thought of the Pits, he'd just gotten out of it himself not two or three missions before! "Why'd she mention the Pits ? Is there something going on I don't know about ?" Taztan might have been a Lesser Shadowling, but even then, able to go out on missions like this made him a big shot among the other Shadows

Masor scoffed at Nymeth's words, and as Taztan stared asking questions, he sighed. "Look, We've hated each other for a long time. And she's high enough up to send my ass to the pits whenever she wants." He explained, shaking his head softly. "I don't know what's up with that woman. I tried being friendly... enough... with her when we first met, but she just never has liked me, and soon I grew to hate her, too." he explained.

He froze as Diamond stirred in her sleep, rolling into a cuddle with Elsa. He smirked. "Dunno why the Master wants these two alive. Wouldn't it make more of an impact to kill them?" He asked, hands in his pockets as he stared at the two children, a murderous intent in his eyes.

"You might be right, but you heard what Nymeth said, any of us screw up this job and its the pits for all of us!" Kethend had been extremely clear with their orders, the Master merely smiled broadly at the silver dragons threats to the foursome when they were given the mission in the first place. "Do you seriously want..." He too froze up when Diamond rolled over, the two girls sleeping soundly. His eyes carefully studied the cloth in the blond ones hand "...If the Master and his Queen want these two alive; who are we to question it ? Come on, I owe you a meal dont I ?" There was a bet among the crew on what their mission on this ship was, and Taztan had lost

He turned from the brig cell door; "Relax, those two aren't going anywhere, besides, when they do wake up, what are they going to say ? 'Hi my name is... whateverthefuckhernameis and this is my sister, who are you where are we ?' They're harmless, besides, that sleeping potion should keep them asleep for hours! By time these two wake up, we'll be at Scala ad Caelum and off the ship to speak to the Master, you can ask him why they're wanted alive and not slain then, alright ?" Taztan was happy he didn't have to work by the clock like Belyrr and Nymeth had to do. They just had to ensure the brig was liviable, which meant actual padded beds anchored to the wall with blankets, and actual food and water, not useless swill the rest of the crew got. He knew however though that Masor would never just up and outright ask why not kill the two kids when they had the chance.

Only thing Taztan could not figure out however was if it was out of fear, or respect to their Master that Masor wouldn't ask such a question

Masor bit his lip till he tasted blood, and then growled. "It better be one hell of a meal you owe me, Taztan." he hissed. He then sighed. "I ain't scared of the girls; our shadows can overpower anyone on this boat if need be, including them. It's the Master I'm scared of, and of Nymeth, to be honest. You do NOT want to see her when her temper flares. I had the unpleasant experience of setting off her temper, and good fuck was I in a lot of pain, add that to the fact that I was in the pits for at least a month for it, and I could hardly move for two months after getting out." he explained carefully. "Shit, practically the whole fucking Legion is scared of Nymeth and Belyrr when they work together; because they do so so well." He growled, shaking his head again.

Taztan smirked. "No wonder you deflated like a lifeboat captains ego when Nymeth mentioned the Pits" He said, he'd had a fun time on that mission for sure. He nodded "Whole lot better then what they're getting for breakfast when they get up! Believe you me, I make a good cook if I do say so myself!" He'd done some fishing, both literally and figurtively, Masor loved a certain kind of fish, and well, Taztan went fishing for it off the stern most of the trip. He was thankful that he did not have to worry of working with either of the Ladies on this mission. Being stuck with Masor was his personal preferance. For two reasons

One, Masor was less prone to breaking him apart when he had a temper

And two; even when Masor had a temper, it was actually not that bad, unless you were near a body of water or high up in the air, then it was problematic; but otherwise it was not that bad

The next morning

14 June 1969

Aveon Sea

Dawn

Aboard the Silversparrow

Dawn broke with a cry, a frantic cry of "Man overboard!" One of the servants sounded the alarm when they spotted the busted up bed and destroyed cannonade along with the huge gaping hole in the wall where the bed once stood where Xeir, the Crown Princess of Arendelle once sleep. Of course that frantic cry had the lookouts frantically searching the sea around them. the storm had long since passed. It was also the cry that woke up the two 'sisters' that were to take care of the princesses. What in the world was going on ?

"Hey! Crewman, will you pipe it down, I'm trying to sleep here! Last night was rough!" Belyrr said in a agitiated tone, clearly unhappy of being woken up from her charade of faking sleep. Of course it was all to plan. Taryl was long gone with his 'stolen cargo' But what shocked Belyrr into a stone still flinch in her bed was the sudden ear piercing screech from the queen upon seeing the smashed bed that once had Xeir asleep upon it. Trading looks with Nymeth and rolling her eyes, iHere we go, time to act/i Belyrr opened the door and stood in the doorframe. "Your highness, wha... Oh my..." Belyrr stared at the gaping hole in the hull of the Silersparrow where Elsas bed once was.

Nymeth acted tired very well for a being who only needed to sleep once a week, and when she saw the hole in the hull, her eyes widened, and she took a step or two back. "O-oh my god!" She sputtered; her acting spot on. "How...what ?" She seemed genuinely confused at the moment. She took a few steps forward to look through the hole, and saw some scratch marks on the ground. "What could these be from?" She asked, looking to another crewman, who had come to see what had happened.

"You! Figure it out!" she shrieked at the crewman, who promptly scampered off, following the tracks and clearing his throat when he found the empty spot where the canon was. "A cannon loose? Well, who's the idiot who did that?" She screamed incredulously, winking at Belyrr unseen.

Catching the wink Belyrr went to the crewman and checked carefully as she dropped to one knee, spotting severed rope greatly frayed at the end; "Not loosed, the rope was snapped, I thought I felt something in the ship move during the storm, but a cannon ? Those things are anchored to the hull! but something snapped the rope. Perhaps the strength of the storm caused the rope to snap due to the weight of the cannon ?" She said, she herself had done just that, but she acted so well it seemed that the rope had snapped during the storm, she stood and followed the trackmarks to the hole in the hull with her eyes. "The cannon broke loose during the storm... It slid across the deck... and..." She stopped speaking seeing the queen bury her face in the kings chest, weeping. Belyrr had to fight internally to keep from giving away the golden goose by smiling. This was just too good.

The King gave his wife a hug before going to the servant, "Have the lookouts seach around the ship carefully, for anything, or anyone. You two "The king looked to both Shadowling women dead in the eyes. "I want you to search this vessel carefully its possible Xeir is somewhere on this ship, look below, there, a hole under the wall wound" The Shadiowlings nodded and Nymeth went to find a servant to do just that as Belyrr went to the queen, acting as a concerned servantgirl of course, none suspected them, which worked perfectly in their favor. Withdrawing a cloth she handed it to the queen to dry her eyes as Adairon got dressed He was right, when the cannon hit the hull and smashed through it, it produced a gaping hole in the hull side, as well as the decking itself down to the hold.

But then when Nymeth came back something hit her. "W-wait...where's Diamon ? Could she be with Xeir ?" Nymeth asked, looking around. "I mean...they do often share a bed... Oh no..." Inwardly was laughing so hard her inner self was clutching her sides scared her appendix was gonna blow from laughning so hard as more tears came to the eyes of the Queen, but externally, she looked genuinely worried. "Double the search!" She called out to the servant before he left the room fully.

She turned to her sister and sniffled, winking again softly. iNo pits for us, I think!/i she thought with joy. iPromotions, too, probably!/i

Easily catching the wink, though Idun never noticed it. Belyrr herself tried hard as she possibly could not to laugh or even smile at the misery they had created while the King and his wife slept like dead rocks. It was all part of Kethends plan. Have everyone frantic and distrought to the point of stopping the ship to search carefully, searching both the ship and the sea around it for a day or two before continuing home.

Adairon didn't hear as Belyrr stood and scampered to where Diamond normally slept, the bed was empty, unslept in as it was still made, "Empty, unslept in, she must have slept with Xeir because of the rough waters last night." which meant only one thing when she shook her head to her sister. Diamond was never in that bed since two nights before when the porter had set the bed up for last night, but Diamond had slept with Xeir again, wanting to be with her sister because of the rough waters

Well that just made things worse for the Queen seeing Belyrr shake her head, Diamonds bed, unslept in; causing her to cry all the more. Her children, missing at sea. For long moments she sat stone still, tears streaming from her face. Finally, though quietly she started speaking, "Stop the ship." Belyrr caught the words and looked at her as if asking 'what ?' Idun started screaming it as she shot to her feet and darted for the door, "Stop the ship! Stop the ship and search!" Against her better judgement, Idun went to the hole in the hull and looked out. seeing broken pieces of her daughters bed dangling from the hole. tears streaming down her face.

This can't be happening

-8-8-8-

Elsas eyes snapped open, she wasnt on a ship at sea, she was in her own bed at home. Asleep. Well she had just woken up at that moment. "Another dream, but this time I was on a ship at sea ?" Why was she having the same dream the last year ? It was summer vacation, and there were only scant things left that she and her sisters and brother could do before the next season started.

Sitting up in bed she opened her window and looked out at the city below. Warforge was a massive white rock city, it stretched as far as the eye could see. Why was she remembering her childhood ? Who were the king and queen in her dream ? Were they really her parents ? Well she was adopted, she and Anna. So why not ? But why dream about her true parents ? None of it made sense to her.

"Elsa!" Called a voice, looking out the window that she had opened she saw her brother and sisters calling to her. "What are you still doing in bed ? Time's wasting!" Mark said, it was true, they only had eight days left!

"I'll be right down!" Elsa called to her brother, Marion went to the weapon rack and picked up her normal twin swords and twirled them a bit, they had planned to do a fort attack. Wirth the four of them sneaking into the fort and attacking Malik and the others within it while unseen by everyone in it. It was a fun session, sneak attacks were always fun. Hard but at the same time quite fun because it gave each kid, teen and child alike, a shot at doing something only they could learn at that age. In this case, infiltrating a fort run by their 'enemies' enabled the training for two things, sneaking and hiding in plain sight, and how to attack a building properly.

Malik had chosen the last week of summer vacation for the teens and kids before the fall sessions began in ther many academies across Caelum as a whole. The last week of summer vacation was to be spent honing skills they'd later need during sessions at various locations across the city.

Elsa got dressed and pulled her hair back into a ponytail of a sort before slipping on a pair of combat boots that laced up to her thighs neatly and tight. The combat gown was a typical outfit design normally used by the younger generations, the outfit was set up of the typical teenager of Scala ad Caelum. A tanktop of either black or white, or even silver or green. Over which went a weapon belt of various designs, most kids their age used a harness that crossed in the front and back and held their armor on their left or right arm as a full gauntlet pattern of their chosen color.

Each kid had armor paired with them, designed on their own. Their teachers helping them design their armor had taught them to follow their hearts when it came to constructing their armor. The designs and color patterns came strictly from the heart of the one making the armor for themselves. And as they grew older and their bodies matured, so too did their armor.

Elsa slipped on her weapon harness. The dark silver crisscross cloth went over her shoulders and came up under her arms. Locking with a locket she had kept since childhood. The cloth within the locket long since faded. But she kept it. She blinked when she saw the locket, it had opened as she put her harness on over her dark gray tanktop. Very briefly she remembered her dream "Was it really just a dream ?" She wondered aloud for a brief moment before refocusing on the present.

The rest of her outfit consisted of a brown corset laced up the sides. Loose fitting trousers belted nicely at the waist with a skirtlike portion of dark broen and green tye dye pattern. Her pants went to just below her knees and were hidden by her combat boots that went to juist above her knees when fully laced nice and tight.

Her bedroom door sprang open. It was Marion. "Are you coming, we only have eight more days to try and actually sneak into the fort, take down its commander and pant our flag, ready ?" The brown haired woman asked. Elsa took in her sisters appearance, long brownblack hair with flecks in places of odd white bits and pieces, their parents had given up on trying to fix it as it was out of their hands according to the local mystics. Elsas own hair was brilliant white. Marion of course thought it made her look cooler.

"Yeah, I'm ready" Elsa replied, but Marion could see she was distracted

"Still having those dreams too ?" Marion asked her.

Elsa nodded. "It felt so real"

"What was it this time ?" Marion wondered

"A ship, two ships. Went to bed on one, woke up on the other. Just like the ship Anna and I came here on" Elsa explained. "But the weird part, was in the dream my name was Xeir."

"Xeir ?" Marion looked at her, a confused look on her face. Elsa simply shrugged. "Not the weirdest name I've heard, though not the oddest either." She smiled, "Anything else ?"

"Yeah, in the dream, Annas name was Diamond and she had silver hair where I had white" Elsa said. She saw Marions reaction. "What is it ?"

"When you said Diamond, something in my head snapped and focused on the name. It feels so familiar to me I cant exactly place it" Marion said

Elsa went thoughtful then said with a nod. "Alright, For now, lets keep this to ourselves, the last thing we need is Mom and Dad worried sick over our mental state because of these dreams" Elsa said, Marion agreed, the two girls went downstairs. In Xeir and Diamonds case, Anna wasnt part of their family. She wasnt in the dream at least either.

"Right, lets go meet up with the others outside!" Marion said. As the two turned to leave the diningroom, their vision swam and both girls collapsed on the floor as darkness filled the space around them, a womans voice echoed within it. "Their hearts are returning. Doubtless they will awaken very soon."

A moment or so later and Marion snapped her eyes open. Briefly seeing stars she got to her feet and rubbed her head. "What a headache" She grumbled rubbing her temple. What just happened ? Marion turned as Elsa struggled to her feet. The woman was ready for their training session sure. But briefly both women had blacked out ?

Anna entered the room and saw them. "Hey, everyone's waiting outside... are you two alright ?" The youngest of their little family asked her elder siblings. Marion was a half year older than Anna. And Elsa was three years older than them both, and Mark a year or so older than Elsa.

Marion waved Anna off "We're alright, I think I missed a step and caught the table on the way down" She said, Anna took it at face value as the truth, But something nagged the young redheaded woman about how her sisters were acting the last year.

Elsa nodded at Marions words, "yeah, I tried to catch you and your head smacked into mine on your way down too." She said giving her own head a rub where her head hit the floor, maybe it was a little too far in terms of stretching the truth, but the story was bought by Anna readily so.

Anna smirked and waved her sisters off. "Whatever, we're outside waiting on you two. Mark is rather bad at waiting, You remember ?" The three of them had to smile, Mark really didnt like it when it came to waiting long for anything. The last year alone proved that well enough when he could barely wait five minutes when told to. Recently, Mark was not a very patient boy even as an adult.

Infact over the last year it had become much more prevailant that Mark hated waiting. When spoken to about it he'd say that he felt things were happening too quickly and wanted a set pace.

"I guess we should see Mark then" Elsa said, the three then left the dining room of the house at a fast walk. The city was massive when outside the house and it allowed the kids and young adults to explore the place in their own time. Nobody knew the center of the city as a whole. And Elsa nor her family had been further than the harbor itself.

Scala ad Caelum was home.

Upon exiting the house to the inner courtyard, the white stone shone bright and clean in the light of the sun far above. The inner court had three neck high walls with small rooftops set upon them. It measured about forty feet by thirty feet in size. The front door was a small covered entry with a well made rooftop and steel and wood lattece door upon it. The four pillars that held up the door gleamed a beautiful dark oak color.

Upon exiting to the street, Elsa saw her brother, Mark, and within other young adults their age and younger. Elsa recognised Malik, their cousin Samuel and the other kids from their sessions every year. "About time" Mark grunted sternly, he wasnt good at being kept waiting over the last few months to a good two or more Seasons.

"Sorry about that, Marion konked out and nearly knocked me out on the way down" Elsa apologised, once more telling the sort of truth to her brother that they told to Anna. The others in their group took it at face value, but Mark merely nodded and kept his mouth shut as he himself knew better, they'd all been having odd dreams recently.

Turning to Malik, Mark said to him. "Alright, they're awake and here. Get the others ready and let them know we're going to do the seige and infiltration today. In meantime, dont tell the others when we'll arrive, only tell them we're coming." Mark had a plan concerning that days raid session. Malik and those with him nodded and left. Of course Samuel smirked as he left giving Elsa and Anna a half smile before heading off, Anna returned it, but Elsa was lost on what it meant.

Anna had planned things too.

Elsa only knew part of the plan, in this case the plan was simply to keep the others in the fort they were going to infiltrate on their toes. But Anna had conmvinced their cousin, Samuel to leave a pair of paths open. One was going to be obvious and well guarded, the other would be secret, and only one of the two paths would be told to those within the fort they were going to infiltrate.

Mark of course planned on sneaking into the fort the obvious way, a supply run. Naturally the kids and adults didnt much worry of checking the wagon directly, only to stop the driver and ask what was in it. It was of course part of training after all, so they didnt have to be thorough when searching, they just had to grill the driver.

Elsa on the other hand with Marion were to sneak in through way of the sewers under the fort and get in through a bathroom vent nice and quiet. Annas plan was to sneak into one of the two ways she and Samuel had dreamed up. Of course things were going to go swimmingly, or not, it all depended on how things went off the start of it all.

"Alright, I'm going to give Malik and the others thirty minutes before we begin our infiltration." Mark said, he went over to a table near their front door of their home, Sacala ad Caelum stretched in all directions as far as the eye could see, each white stonework island in the endless sea had a clockwork device upon its center. And none of them had been off their own island. They had pretty much made it theirs during their childhood years to the present. Mark opened up a small map as did the others. "The sewer entry is here, but I overheard it might be watched, if its not, the entry within the fort to the sewer might be, so be careful. Be watchful" the girls nodded. "There's a delivery not far away headed for the fort as part of training I'll hide in it and get inside. Remember, dont make any noise until I do" Mark said.

It wasnt easy to tell most buildings apart in Scala ad Caelum, yet many that lived there went by street names over buildings and addresses. The white stone was marked with silver and darker gray paving stones to denote roads and walkways. Nobody had a car or horse, there were overhead cable cars that connected the islands though. Along with trains.

The girls nodded. After a quick group hug the four split up. Mark disappearing into a crowd of people and Anna doing similar in the other direction, leaving Elsa and Marion to find the sewer house which wasnt far away.

Mark headed right for the delivery cart and with he crowd of people walking along around it he merged in with the group and without anyone noticing easily climbed in and hid among the stacks of blacnkets, bedding, and wheels of cheese along with amunitions and weapons. He still hadnt gotten his Blades yet, so he had his sword on his back and waited as the cart headed for the fort entry.

A minute or so of waiting and Mark peeked out from behind the driver unseen or unheard as the cart driver was called to "Hold a moment" Mark knew it was one of the guards stationed at the fort gate. "State your business'"

"Delivery for the fort" Came the reply

"What delivery ?" Came the question

"Bedding, food, weapons, some sets of swords as well" Came the answer from the driver. A moment later and the driver was allowed entry. Perfect. The cart continued on then and into the fort. Mark watched the roof of the cloth covered cart as it passed through the gate tunnel into the fort proper. A few more meters and the cart came to a solid halt.

Peeking out of the cart Mark saw a set of bushes nice and thick enough for him to hide in. Easily ducking out of the cart into the bushes he waited for a patrolling soldier to briefly take his post, then head along a road deeper into the fort. Mark easily darted across the street without a sound to a waiting pile of hay. Gently peeking out of the hay he waited again for the same soldier to turn away and continue on his patrol. When the soldier was gone Mark darted to the rooftop and hid in the shadows. He was in the fort. Now he needed some info, namely where their enemies were, in this case the commanders of the fort, their targets, so to speak. Mark withdrew one of his foam swords, the wood core made for some good brusing, yet the foam made it worth the work to make it. It also was what he had to tag his target with.

His vision shifted slightly, allowing him to spot two others on patrol standing nearby. It seemed he had a possible conversation to overhear. He crept forwards on the rooftop garden to get within earshot without a sound and listened as the two soldiers he was training with started walking.

"Did you hear what happened ? Malik said they're coming today. But he didnt know what time" Said one

"Big deal, there's only four of them. Even Samuel said with the right angles of movement we can take them out before they get inside here. We'll know when they get here regardless" Said the other

"I dont like it" Said the first

"You dont like what ?" Asked the second

"This waiting, its like they're wanting us to make the wrong move first" Said the first

"You could be right, but that's why we're on these patrols" Replied the second

"Fair point. Come on, Malik said that once we finish patrol we can rejoin the others at the cannonade point." said the first. The two went quickly out of Marks hearing range.

"Cannons ?" Mark wondered softly as he easily dropped into a haystack without a sound and then scuttled the stack over to a hedge of thick bushes. He spotted another soldier, none else was around. The lone soldier patrolled in front of a tent set up for the training session. Mark recognised it as a commanders tent. He saw one of the two cannons not far away. "I'm going to have to disable those before the others get here" He thought to himself. Moving silently he struck, easily knocking out the lone soldier and finding a map of the area. Only one path in was clearly marked by the 'enemy' soldiers. The main gate, they thought the group was going to sneak in that way ? Ha! Mark had to smile

He snuck out of the tent at a fast pace and went up the stairs to the next level of the fort wall. Once more a silent takedown was all he needed to take down the lone soldier keeping an eye out. It wasnt his signal, as he was so silent in doing the takedowns that he left the soldier and scampered down to the first cannon and broke parts of it out and removed the firing pins.

Once one cannon was disabled mark easily slipped over the wall unseen and catwalked along the edge just below the wall completely invisible as he went to the next cannon. Quickly checked there was none around, Mark vaulted the low wall and disabled the second cannon before hiding in another thick hedge of brush nearby.

Samuel stood near the way that he ensured wasnt guarded for Anna to sneak into. Anna at that point had used a stolen outfit easily slipping into the robes of one of the soldiers in the fort for the Session. Joniing up with their cousin Samuel she said softly "Seen Mark ?" Samuel shook his head no. Anna nodded in return. The plan was to infiltrate the fort, then start fighting once they were all inside and Mark threw the first punch, or downed Malik. Leaning over to Samuel Anna asked softly" Seen either Marion or Elsa ?" Again Samuel shook his head. The only person he had seen so far was her.

In the streets well away from the fort, Marion poked her gaze around a building. The sewer control station was just ahead and it was unguarded. Perfect, motioning Elsa with her to follow the two women headed into a crowd of people and ambled in that direction. Ducking easily into the sewer control station unseen the two women took a look around.

Moving through the sewer controls Marion found a few important controls and activated them. "Ok, sewer route to the fort... lets see... here it is" Marion said, a few more controls and she found the map and zoomed in, then she found an issue. "Well shit" She mumbled

"What is it ?" Elsa asked from her perch keeping watch, she saw one of the fort guards on lookout duty get taken down silently by Mark and smirked.

"One of the sewers is full of shit, literally" Marion replied. "We'll have to find a new route" Marion started through the map. Two more paths were found. Both of them lead to their target from different angles. "Alright, which do we use ? Left or right ?" she highlighted the paths.

Elsa thought a moment then pointed to the left going path. "That seems most promising and only goes a little out of our way" she said.

Marion didnt like it "It gets us closer to the shit though. Either way they're both clean"

"Left sewer line it is" Elsa said, "lets go while the going is good, remember we do this right, we get a reward and can charter that ship like we planned a few months ago to go to another island" Elsa and the others had been planning on that trip for nearly all summer, they had planned to use each reward money allocated to them after each summer Session to hire a boat to take them to another City Island among those they could see.

"Right" Marion said, she hit the controls to unlock the nearby grate in the wall and it slid open. "Shall we get going ? The left side isnt going to stay dry and clean for long, if we're lucking, the sewer network will bypass it until we're through it. I hope" the left side was closer to the sewers directly for waste management controls. It being so close to them made Marion nervous

"Come on, lets go" Elsa said, the two of them left the room and headed into the sewer system, they had a Session to complete and they had plans for the end of it. Of course they werent planning on leaving anyone out, Samuel already had his money for it, so did Mark and Anna, that only left Elsa and Marion to get their awards for the Session that day and the day after in order for the five of them to charter the ship, or the cable car., but they never could find the cable car entry space

Their plan was simple, finish the two sessions they had left, then go abnd find the cable car office and station and board from there. But then they still werent able to find the cable car control station, nore were they able to find anyone on any of the docks to charter a ship anywhere when they last had the money to do it. That left them only one option, ice rock and candy and other things they'd want to buy as kids

A left turn was all it took to get deeper into the sewers. "How many times are we going to turn left ?" Elsa grumbled softly as they listened carefully for sounds up ahead and behind. Marion was on edge and Elsa didnt like it. But it left them no alternative plan or route to take to do the infiltration.

"Shh, there's light up ahead" Marion replied motioning for her sister to be quiet as they moved forwards. Peeking around the corner Marion spotted two guards not far off, ducking back around she hissed softly "Damn, two guys at the only way into the fort. One on the left one on the right." She said softly to Elsa who peeked around the corner.. She didnt recognise either of them.

Ducking back around the corner she mused softly "Its possible a shift change is coming. Or can we lure them away ?" She said

Marion smirked, "hide there" She noidded towards a pile of palets and other junk before picking up an old piece of wood and a her magic skills Marion had she used the nail as a baseball, then the board as a bat. And sent the nail pining off the sewer walls away from the. Ducking as she did so as the two guards heard the noise. She peeked out as the two guards ran past. They had left their posts in the clear. With a nod the two girls darted for the ladder and went up without a sound.

"Well, we left those two in our wake without getting seen, lets find the others if we can" Elsa said softly taking in where they were. A modest room, an officers barracks of all things. Silently creeping to the door Marion peeked into the hall. Well, that was that.

Turning from the door Marion smiled. "Nobody is in the hallway. Come on, lets go. We need to find Mark to do the rest of the Session."

"If he is even in here" Elsa said softly. Marioin smirked and the two left the barracks into the hallway. They moved silently and quickly, dodging patrols easily without getting seen whatsoever. "lets find a place to hide for a minute, we cant make a move in the open until Mark does" Elsa said after a few moments. Finding a closet or two to hide in Marion dove into one that had slats in the door while Elsa climbed into another and hid on a shelf by using her magic to get up there. She didnt want anything left on the floor to give her away.

A minute passed and a patrol went by, one checking every closet. One opened the closet Elsa hid in, a brief moment the young man looked around it. Not finding Elsa or Marion or anyone really, the man shut the door after calling to his fellow. "Nothing down here, I think Maliks getting paranoid" The closet door closed. Elsa still heard the voices and a doorknob getting jiggled.

"You heard him, he said the infiltration was happening today, but he didnt know what time. That was an hour ago." Said a voice of another male. One that Elsa recognised a bit as Halen.

"I think hes just paranoid, yes the infiltration Session is today, but he's only been back an hour and when he got back he said it was on." Said the man who opened and searched briefly, Elsas hiding space. They stood outside Marions door and fumbled with the locked door.

Marion had no place to go. To her left was the furnace controls, to her right was the power supply control box and directly behind her was a stone wall packed with fuses that tickled when she leaned on them. The door was fumbled with briefly again.''What are you doing ? Remember what Malik said, we dont have the key to this door, its the energy controls and furnaces closet. The only person with the key is the janitors and the Forts owner." said Halen

The jiggling of the doornob stopped. However Marion didnt feel much safer. "The owner of this building" Repeated the man who searched Elsas hiding space. "Nathan Wolfe, uncle of our four targets. Just wonderful, is that room isolated ?"

"Relax Anthe, Only Nathan Wolfe has the key to that room, he doesnt even let his wife have access to it. Says its too dangerous even for him to go in without the right precautions beforehand. Come on, there's more rooms to search." Halen said

"Fine" Anthe replied. "I still dont like it, that one Wolfe girl, Kiyo I think her name was, was rather taken with you, her father is Nathan Wolfe if you recall. Its possible she could get us the key to search it." the two walked off, but both girls could still hear them speaking

"Get real, I know for a fact Kiyo hates my guts, what would we have to give her in return for getting the key from her father ? It'd be a lost cause" Halen said, the two then disappeared around a corner as Elsa stepped from her closet quiet as a cat. She went to the door Marion hid behind and knocked it twice. Marion silently stepped out at the knock. "Whew. For a moment I thought they were going to get Kiyo or Sap to get uncles key, I'm glad he gave it to me for this mission. Kiyo nor Sap would be able to get it off him"

Elsa smirked, then that left them only one last thing to do. "alright, lets get going, Mark should be around here somewhere" The general alarm went off. It was time to get out of quiet and into the open.

Marion snickered. "I think I know where to find him. Come on!" The two darted down the hall, patrols thundered on a lower level that they could see in the same direction they were going.

One partol spotted them, Halen and Anthe. "Hey!" Anthe called out, pointing them out. Getting on his radio he called in the sighting of the two girls. "Infiltrations spotted, ten oclock high! Main barracks gym catwalks!" He said Halen called for soldiers to go with him towards the nearby stairs to get to the next level. Marion withdrew her foam gun.

"Behind me, head down at the next stairway!" She called to Elsa, she opened fire, the rapid fire nerflike weapon had been magically set up, firing madly into the soldiers coming for them, each hit took them out of the battle for a good twenty minutes or so. Halen went down with two more of his squad ontop of him. Their armor locking them out of the fight entirely.

Halen screamed at her. "Sorry Halen!" Elsa said quickly7 doing a cartwheel to dodge nerf darts shot in her direction as Marion hit a control panel and knocked out the power in the room. Halen was out of the fight for ten minutes due to the armor lockout. He hit the floor in annoyance.

Briefly struggling he turned to his fellows. "Get. Off. Me"

"Sorry sir, but the armor's locked, we cant move" Came the reply, the other man with the two nodded, they were stuck in a pile for ten minutes as Elsa and Marion left the building at a run.

In the courtyard it was am ess, Mark was shooting the place apart, and the apparent safe room had been destroyed, Malik was nowhere to be seen. Which meant that Anna had eyes on him, or Mark already took him down.

Thankfully neither one as Malik was watching from another building. Without a word malik stole out of the new building and stalked through the fortress structure. Of course Malik had changed cloithing to make it harder for the four to find him. Dressed identical to the other soldiers in the fort for the Session he simply went on patrol with another fellow.

They had a shot to take down the infiltrators. Malik promised himself the weward, and the only way to get it correctly was to take down each of the four infiltrators. And his first target he recognised. Going up to Samuel he said "Boss wants me to relieve you on watch. Take a rest" He turned to Anna. "Boss said nothing about you, so you and I watch this gate" Anna simply nodded, Samuel smirked, "Thanks Meeks" he said, knocking forarms with Malik, both men knew Malik was faking it, all too well, but Anna barely knew Malik, didnt trust him either. Nor did Anna know that Malik had convinced Samuel to play turncoat on his cousins

Samuel went to the noted breakroom, as he did so his armor lock went into effect locking him out of any fighting whilethere for ten minutes. Samuel smiled, activating his radio he spoke. "Anthe, the four are in, we got Anna, whats your status ?"

"Marion and Elsa are in the fort, we nearly had Elsa, but she nailed Halen, he's down along with Max and Jake. They're on top of him and blocking our path out" Anthe replied.

Samuel faceplamed. "Great, that means that even with Anna captured through the boss, we still have the other three to work through. Mark will be a toughie, dont think of him as human, he's a unit on his own. The girls are easier, but split them apart. Relay it to the others" Samuel shook his head, it was gonna be a long session. He smirked watching Annas name fall off his visor. Malik took her out when she was distracted. Perfect.

Mark saw it too. As soon as Elsa near his hiding place he opened the door and pulled her into the closet. He shushed her. "Annas down, her armor went into lockout, I havent seen Samuel nor can I find Malik. Someone must have gone turncoat. Teacher said this would happen and we were to expect it" Mark said quietly

"Dont beat yourself up" Elsa replied, there came a soft knock on the door, it was Marion, quickly ducking through the closet to another door Marion acted as if she was just taking a short cut through the building to get from one room to another. In truth she passed a note to her brother.

Mark smirked, Anna was down, Samuel was in lockout, and the Session was only thirty five minutes into the run. Which meant they had only twenty five minutes to go. But with Anna in lockout that meant the reward for Elsa was going to be smaller didnt it ? Apparently that was what they initally feared. But thankfully Marion had found the rules, every 'kill' allowed for additional credits to be made. The higher ranked the target, the more credits they were worth in terms of points

Each infiltrator was worth a thusand credits. And if someone inside the fort took one of them down, they earned those credits at the end of the session. Plus whoever turned turncoat was to get part of that. At least half. Plus the infiltrators earned credits were lost when caught and locked out.

Marion moved through the next area calmly, dressed as one of the forts soldiers she easily took down higher ranked members, but never could find Malik. Two soldiers stood guard over a wall point. A dozen others were spread in the area. Marion saw a typical patrol route and began it. Nobody suspected her. Malik didnt even suspect her as she walked past him and Annas replacement by the steel grate in the wall.

Mark stepped into the next room from another closet, sneaking silently through the office cubicles he nerfed a few soldiers, before getting to the core. Still no sign of Malik. Setting the time for the core lockout He kept an eye on the hud of his visor.

He hissed softly; in terms of credits, Elsa had an even twenty three hundred from that Session alone. Marion had nearly double that at forty five seventy. And Anna was in the red at a flat zero, Samuel, even though he was in lockout, had a good twelve twenty. And Malik had a solid three thousand even. Mark himself had a good nineteen hundred twenty three credits. He knew the turn coat. Sending a hud notice to Marion to seek out Samuel as the ten minute lockout ended Mark headed off in search of Malik. Once a lockout was activated on a infiltrator the one who set it locked in that thousand credits, anything they lost however wouldnt go below that initial thousand.

So if Mark were to lockout Malik, Malik would still walk away from the Session with a thousand credits, Samuel would also walk away with the thousand credits, as well as whatever credits Anna had earned by sneaking past other soldiers or 'killing' other soldiers. By seeing that Samuel had 1220 credits to his name, and Malik having 3000 even, it meant that Samuel was the turncoat and pointed out Anna to Malik or someone else, unless Malik did it sheer chance which was a possiblity.

If they couldnt kill Malik before the timer was up, five minutes to go, then the Infiltrators, minus Anna, still got their total credits earned, as well as any others who earned credits during the run if they earned any for that matter.

Malik watched the countdown timer tick down as Anna fumed in the sidelines, a commander stood at the door, Samuel wasnt there, but Anna was clearly unhappy. She'd been turned in, pointed out to Malik of all people. And all the credits she had earned, two thousand two hundred and twenty, were split between Malik and Samuel with Samuel getting the additional two twenty.

The timer ticked down, the referee's voice echoing in the fortress. "five... four... three... two... one... TIME" the weapons stopped working and the timer went off like an airhorn. The scores were listed and the fortress was emptied. Mark stepped into the main building for debriefing, with him was Malik and Marion. Elsa came in with Samuel, who had a smug look on his face, Elsa didnt look too thrilled, but it was overall, a very good Session. The last Session, Anna had earned enough credit to also charter the ship, leaving only Elsa and Marion left.

"Score sheet rank!" Came the call from one of the commanding officers watching the session. The names were posted on the overhead scoreboard, as well as on each visor. Mark naturally was at the top with total credits earned session to session minus credits spent. Elsa was directly under him, then under her was Samuel and Malik, and finally Marion and Anna both tied at the bottom of the top five in the list.

Finally they had enough to charter a cable car, or even a boat to another city island. But that was easier said then done, all the credits went into their accounts. But Mark and his siblings preferred their credits to be in something more physical, which allowed easier transfer and use.

Once they had their credits in hand it was time to find that cable car or charter a boat. Mark had done the legwork and had descovered the boat launch and the guy willing to take them. So for safe keeping he had Elsa carry his credits, as did Anna and Marion. The woman was the most trusted of the family and it made the most sense.

Heading for the docks that Mark found Elsa lagged behind, distracted by strange thoughts, apparently, the girl in her dreams was sea sick. When they first arrived on a ship of all things, she was terribly seasick. Would it also mean she was sea sick ? Ahead of her, Mark entered the docks office, following by Anna and Marion. Leaving Elsa briefly alone in the courtyard dock

Bumping into a tall dark coated and hidden behind a shadowy hooded man briefly the woman stuimbled as the two connected. Confused Elsa looked around. The man had grabbed her by the arm. "What the... " Elsa said

"Elsa come on, what are you lagging for ? Time is wasting if we wait too long we'll miss the boat" Mark called out.

"Right!" Elsa said with a nod once more looking around, had she imagined it ?

The four went into the ticket office. "Four tickets to the next city island please" Mark said to the guy behind the counter.

"Got the credits ?" The man asked, that ewas the rule after all, show the credits, get the tickets. It was that simple.

"Yes, Elsa" Mar ksaid motioning to Elsa. The woman patted her pocket, then looked frantic as she searched all her pockets of her jacket.

"Oh no" Elsa said. "I dont have it, I must have dropped it, unless... that guy took it" She didnt look happy, but Mark stared at her.

The teller closed his window as Mark asked "What guy ?"

"The guy that bumped into me, didnt you see him ?" Elsa replied, they all shook their heads, they hadnt see anyone. "Damnit, now we lost all our credits!"

"Not all of them, remember how mom always had us set aside credits for spending if we lost access or lost our credits earned ?" Anna said, she was right, Charity had taught her kids to set credits aside for a hidden bank of money. The four breathed a collective sigh of relief, they werent broke thank goodness.

"Dont sweat it" Mark said to Elsa, sure she had lost their combined credits that day, but it happened even to the best of people, therefore to Mark it didnt make much sense to worry over it, they could easily remake their credits in the next few sessions.

"I'm really sorry guys, I had it on me and now I dont. I cant understand where it went." Elsa said a sad tone in her voice. Her siblings simply smiled and tried to tell her not to worry about it.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. That night found Elsa goiung to bed early. As she laid staring at her bedroom ceiling she had to wonder. Who was that guy in the dark coat ?

-8-8-8-

He walked along the corridor of the ancient house alone. His mind lost in thought. Why had he asked her that question ? He bumped into her, hard, sending her to the ground, grabbing her by the arm he pulled her to her feet, and spoke calmly, sternly. "Can you feel Xeir ?" Why had he asked that question ?

Entering the Main foyer of the old house, DiT was waiting for him. "You went into the simulation didnt you ?" She asked him, He did not answer. "Never mind all that, you have a new mission, and make sure your paths do not cross this time" He nodded, and a portal swirled into exsistance. He had work to do.

-8-8-8-

A portal swirled into exsistance within the street outside the Wolfe compound and a cloaked man stepped from it without a sound as the portal whisped into nothing. Shadows danced around him as he stalked the now slient and empty streets. Six shadowy creatures formed and advanced towards him.

Raising a gloved hand the hooded man formed a weapon into his hand and struck. The strange glasslike sword glowed with a pale greygold energy that swirled like fog. Each shadow it struck caused the shadow to fade into a whisp of white smoke with a pained scream.

When the first two fell to the hooded stranger so easily, the others looked at each other and made to flee, However the hand raised again. Forming a barrier of some kind, hexagonal patterns formed a barrier, the shadows had no where to flee or to escape their deaths.

Finally the last shadow fell into a explosion of smoke and a howling shriek before the hexagon patterned barrier faded away. Leaving the hooded stranger alone in the once more silent street. The sword faded and the stranger began to walk away from the area of the fight

"You there, hold a moment if you will!" Called a voice, stopping and turning slightly, the hooded stranger spotted what had to be a older fellow, a guard on patrol ? "State your business"

"Enjoying the night air" Came the calm reply from under the hood.

"Did you hear any screaming ? I was alerted to the sounds of screaming and came to see, only to find you walking here. Did you see what happened here ?" Asked the guard.

"I am sorry, screaming ?" The hooded man shook his head no. "I do not believe so, no I guess I was too lost in thought to hear antything outside of my thinking. I wish I couyld be of more help but I need to get back to my home to finish something important" The hooded stranger simply nodded at the other man and walked off. The guard didnt press further as the hooded stranger let. After a brief moment of looking around and never seeing that Marion's window was wide open and staring down at the street, she had seen it all. Even the guard walking away confused.

But Marion went to bed even more confused, what the hell had she just witnessed ? And why did it feel so damn familiar ? She could have sworn she had fought in a similar manner before, with twin swords. Similar in design and effect ? Marion went to bed trying to figure it out. As the moon rose over Scala ad Caelum a portal opened without a sound, and a figure faded from view through it.

RESTORATION AT 6%